Young Children in Competitive Sports Essay

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” Jessica Statsky argues that younger children should not be involved in overly competitive sports. Statsky wrote that organized competitive sports were to the disadvantage of children both physically and psychologically. In youth athletics, some parents and coaches put their own dreams in front of their children 's’ well-being by stressing winning. Statsky concludes “all organized sports activities” to be remade as a more enjoyable game regardless of each athlete’s ability and athleticism. The author states many issues that kids have when they are forced to play a sport just to win or that they don’t enjoy. Some kids just don 't enjoy sports, but their parents force it on them. Certain organized sports programs promote winning over physical skills and self-esteem. Statsky brings up valid points that early childhood shouldn’t involve intense physical competition, which is associated with the risk of injury to the body and mind.

Competitive sports in some cases are becoming very unhealthy for children. Most children would rather play on a losing team than sit on the bench of a winning team. Youth sports are a great idea to get children up and active, as well as improve their social skills. Just like every other thing in life it is important to practice and work hard to achieve success. However it is unhealthy to push for results over the needs or wants of the child. Aside from the mental stress that young athletes may experience from intense training and physical play long lasting injures is now a growing concern. Fact is competitive sports is a double edge sword if done right it is the greatest thing world, but if done wrong it can be very unhealthy for a child.

Competitive sports have been apart of american culture for as long as time has existed. Nowadays, there are forty million kids who play competitive sports. These sports have a critical affect on children. They help shape children, and help determine who they are in adulthood. With forty million children playing competitive sports, people need to know whether these sports affect children for better or for worse. Well, competitive sports do have multiple beneficial effects on children. Such as it keeps children healthy physically and mentally. This is important because keeping a healthy mind and body will allow kids to do their very best. Competitive sports also reduce drug and cigarette use in children, which is significant because drugs

Lately though, these games have lost it’s purpose and the lessons these players could be learning are far from what is transpiring. The emphasis on winning or losing has significantly outweighed what these sports are all about; teamwork and having fun. Alfie Kohn, author of “The Case Against Competition” found a study researched by David Johnson, a professor at the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues. They previewed all the studies they could find on the subject of competition from 1924 to 1980. Sixty-five of the studies found that children learn better when they work cooperatively as opposed to competitively, eight found the reverse. It is proven that you can get the most out of a topic whether it’s school work to sports, you learn the most from working in an atmosphere where they work together not against each other. In addition, children have been enrolled in intense sport training as early as the age of 4, not allowing them to have a chance to really pick what sport they are interested in. A lot of times parents hope to fulfill their dream, by having their offspring due what they never got the chance as a child. This doesn’t give kids the chance to develop and make decisions for themselves when it relates to the sports they want to play. This causes children to not only unhappy but dependent on

One reason that the competitive sports are beneficial for youth is that it helps to create determination to succeed in life. According to the article

Being involved in competitive sports is great for kids...right? Well, maybe not. It turns out that many parents are pushing their kids too hard. The ongoing debate on weather kids should be involved in these types of sports has spread throughout the parenting world like wildfire and it has many parents pondering weather they should let their children be part of it. Competitive youth sports are not worth the drawbacks because kids can be seriously injured, there is brutal training involved, and instead of doing something useful, these kids are stuck in boot camp.

In DiFiori’s article he tells us, “Youths participating in sports have opportunities to enhance self-esteem and socialize with peers setting the stage for an active adult lifestyle.” When a child is playing sports they have multiple opportunities to do well in their activity which increases their self-esteem. Coaches will complement them and encourage them as they master skills and perform well. Also playing on a team with other players will increase social skills. The teammates a child befriends while on a sports team will create everlasting relationships. Also, some teammates are hard to deal with. It teaches a child how to deal with adversity and people they do not see eye to eye with. Sports teaches people how to work together with people for a common goal and interest. Sports provides inumerable benefits and lessons that one can use later on in their adult life and in the workforce.

When you talk about competitive sports, what do you think of? Soccer, track, basketball? Well, these are all good examples. All sports keep you healthy, are all about learning from your mistakes, and most of all, putting in your best effort. Athletes learn determination, that they cannot always be the best, and that they need to be prepared to fail. According to Tommy Lasorda, a former Major League baseball player, “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” The most important thing when kids play competitive sports is that they need to be determined to do their best. However, sports do not only give kids benefits physically but also mentally. Kids should play competitive sports because there are

Sports help children build good character or serve as a building block for good character. Many life lessons are taught through experiences while playing a sport. The challenges in life these children are going to face require discipline, earning and giving respect, and taking accountability for one’s actions. Children who play sports learn the physical, mental, and emotional rewards for these traits, or the consequences for the lack thereof, and get a taste of what the real has in store for them based on their decisions. Children learn that the choices themselves or another teammate makes affects the whole team. “A sign of wisdom and

Equally important, competitive sports can help your child's social life. The children can interact with other kids their age. When they interact they

Today, as many as 45 million kids play in competitive sports in the United States. Around 80% of kids under age 15 have quit (“Let’s Bring Back the Joy!”). Competitive Sports are sports aimed to improve one’s skill and abilities. Today, more kids than ever are competing in sports. Kids in competitive sports can get them scholars in collages. Some scholars pay off their college funds. Kids must be allowed to play competitive sports. Children do better in school when participating in sports and there are many opportunities for kids to specialize early.

“Being in a team helps make friends and learn to trust people.” Kids get more social by having fun with a group doing activities such as ones to improve trust. By being a team, kids also learn effective ways of cooperation. For example, in basketball, and soccer you have to pass the ball to a teammate and realize that it's a whole team not just you which a lot of kids don't think about before joining a team. This shows that kids get more social by many effective ways in a team. “Being on a team helps kids from being in depression and makes kids more confident.” This happens when some kid is feeling sad because of something and the rest of the team cheers the kid up and helps from the kid going into depression. This shows that kids emotional feelings can be helped by a team. In Conclusion, Competitive sports let kids make more friends and help fight emotional

There are several ways competitive sports teach kids life skills. Kids can learn how to work together by having to work with their teammates to win a game. Teamwork is an important skill used everyday and kids need to learn how to handle people who aren’t necessarily their favorite.

One way they teach and help kids, according to Sarah Davis,author of ‘What are the benefits of competitive soprts for youth,’ is that they help kids cooperate with one another. This is important because when they grow up and get a job they will most likely have to know how to be cooperative with their coworkers. Another way competitive sports teach and help kids according to Kirk Mango, is that they help kids make friends and meet different people. Every kids needs friends so that they have someone other than their mothers to talk to. Friends are what make kids kids, they have your back no matter what and they build kids self confidence. The final way competitive sports teach and help kids according to Davis is that they teach kids to win and lose. This is a good trait to have because in life you don’t always win and teaching them to lose will help them to not be a sore loser. Nobody wants to work with a sore loser in

Children can see their improvements when they play against other teams .Winning games and moving to higher levels of competition permit children to sense their personal progress. When children play with other children their value of their self will increase because they are part of a team with similar goals. When children are part of a team it allows them to make friends and that allows them to boost their confidence as well.